Stewart joins St. Aug baseball staff as assistant coach

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Raleigh, N.C. — Saint Augustine's University added Tom Stewart as the assistant baseball coach Wednesday. Stewart will work with the pitchers.

“I am excited to have Tom Stewart on board,” St. Aug Head Baseball Coach Charles Whitaker said. “His coaching experience will be an asset to our baseball team.”

Stewart was the pitching coach at N.C. Wesleyan College the past two seasons. He coached a high school travel team in New York from 1980 to 1995, and has been the pitching coach for the Fuquay-Varina Twins summer league team since 2009. A Brooklyn, N.Y., native, Stewart also has 12 years of experience as a minor league and collegiate umpire.

Under Stewart’s guidance, the Fuquay-Varina Twins’ pitchers recorded five straight wins to help the team capture the Carolina Virginia Collegiate League championship from the loser’s bracket in the summer of 2012. Three Twins’ pitchers made the all-tournament team.

During his tenure at N.C. Wesleyan, Stewart coached two pitchers who received professional contract offers. The Battling Bishops ranked in the top third nationally in walks allowed per game, strikeouts and hits per nine innings in 2010 and 2011. Last season, the N.C. Wesleyan pitching staff ranked in the top 50 nationally in strikeouts and hits allowed while leading the conference in shutouts. N.C. Wesleyan amassed 300 or more strikeouts the past two seasons.

Before entering the coaching profession, Stewart was an outstanding collegiate baseball player at St. Bernard College in Cullman, Ala., from 1963 to 1965. He majored in history at St. Bernard before joining the U.S. Army. A Vietnam War era veteran, Stewart played semi-professional baseball in the Stan Musial League in Long Island, N.Y.A Brooklyn, N.Y., native, Stewart has been married to his wife Joanne for 44 years, and they reside in Apex, N.C. They are the proud parents of three children - Tommy, Michael and Robert – and the proud grandparents of Cameron and Kayla.